Just how much weight one should put behind market share is debatable, but recent numbers from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech certainly make Android look good. According to Kantar Worldpanel, Android now owns a whopping 70.4 percent of the European market, while iOS sits at 17.8 percent.

You can argue web usage, Black Friday shopping numbers and customer satisfaction surveys all you want, but the numbers don’t lie: In Europe, Android is crushing the competition. While iOS struggles to break 20 percent of the market and Windows Phone struggles to break 8 percent, Android is sitting comfortably with nearly three-fourths of the total smartphone market.

As smartphone penetration will sooner than later be reaching its peak in Europe, it’s going to be up to Android manufacturers like Samsung, Sony and HTC to retain customers. Apple excels in this area, but the competition isn’t asleep at the wheel.

The market share story in the US paints a much different picture. Both Android and iOS are sitting at about 50 percent (Android at 52 and iOS at 42), but iOS growth has Android beat. If current growth patterns continue, iOS will take the lead in market share in the US.

No matter how you look at the numbers from across the globe, it’s safe to say that Android and iOS together account for nearly all smartphone usage. Neither smartphone giant will be going anywhere anytime soon.

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uknowme

Interesting but the question is also raised where are these sales coming from? I carry a Evo LTE as my device. I also carry a iPhone 5 because that’s what my company gave us. I do know a lot of people that do the same.

http://droidsamurai.blogspot.com DroidSamurai

I think the US telecom market is especially tough for Android as you can’t always get to use the phone you like.

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Mike C.

Interresting as Googles services in Europe suck compared to the US. No music download. No movies. No books. Apple is pretty consistent and delivers most to all of Europe.

emanuel

Apple had iTunes for a while now; google has only recently started offering such services, and they are continually expanding availability; i’m from Austria and i only got access to google music and books last month, so even if it might be slower than users would like it they are expanding :D

Mike C.

Most of Europe still have nothing. In any case, it doesn’t explain why Android tops iOS in Europe.

TGFV

Because we Europeans know that Apple sucks?

Lukasz Markiewicz

Two main reasons: price and availability

In the US most people who want a smartphone end up on AT&T or Verizon contracts which are at least 2400$ in monthly charges over two years. Then they can offer you devices ranging from 0-200$ for a total cost of ownership of 2400-2600$. This skews the market very hard towards high-end devices. It makes easier to chose the iPhone because you are comparing just the hardware and platform and the price becomes mostly irrelevant. You can get something like the GS3 for 0$ on contract, but it will still cost you 2400$ to own one. An equivalent generation of iPhone will cost you 100$ more for the 4s. More, but the difference is small. When comparing the GS4 against the iPhone 5, they cost the same.

You can buy your own device, but if you want to use it on AT&T’s network, it’s still 2400$ because those greedy ***** won’t offer you an equivalent of a cheaper SIM-only plan on their main network.

In Europe, price flexibility on subsidies, line rental cost, ability to use your own device are all much greater. The iPhones depreciate in price extremely slowly. An off contract GS3 in my country is 1500 Polish zloty, an off contract 4s is 2200 PLN, a slightly more than 200$ difference and a 45% premium.

But most people buy their phones through operators and here the difference is even worse as operators here price gouge you on iPhones by pricing the contracts and quoted phone values even higher. The cost of owning an iPhone 5 vs the GS4/HTC One is around 20-30% higher here depending on the operator. Once you drop down to mid-range devices or last year flagships then Android is around half the cost. Also operators here don’t seem to be pushing the iPhone that hard. Apple also doesn’t cater to less affluent customers. Large parts of EU have similar income levels to US, but there are also tens of millions of people in post-communist countries with average income of 15-20% of US levels. If they want a connected device, Apple doesn’t even offer an option for them.

Lukasz Markiewicz

To have a similar pricing structure to the European market, something like a GS3 or One X should be selling for -200/-300$ on contract (three months free credit towards your account). If you don’t care much about iOS v Android, or have a slight preference for iOS, the pricing structure in the US doesn’t give Android much of an advantage.

If you want to buy an iPhone on most European operators, you really must have a strong preference for Apple to justify the price difference. Even if you like the iPhone a bit more than a similar Android phone, the price is hard to swallow for most.

onelclickroot

Now a days android popularity is more then iOS

4dd0

“You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else…”